Since we now have a second thread started, I will post the latest news from the Cyprus Mail here, rather than on the old thread. This certainly brings the discussion to a new level:
Police probe into Helios crash into its final stages
By Constantine Markides
RESPONSIBILITIES for the August 14 Helios crash in Greece that killed all 121 passengers on board will soon be meted out, as the investigation into the crash nears its final stages.
Cypriot investigators have already gathered many witnesses, both from Helios personnel as well as from other sources in relation to the aircraft and the technical troubles it exhibited. Evidence so far suggests that a number of people knew that the plane had problems but kept silent for fear that they might endanger their careers.
Police spokesman Demetris Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that although the police investigation was under way, it would not be completed and no responsibilities would be doled out until chief accident investigator and head of the Greek team Akrivos Tsolakis completes and releases the investigation findings.
Greek police have requested of the Cypriot authorities to give them copies of all evidence relating to the accident.
There are cases, however, when particularly sensitive material, such as the tape from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), may be withheld from police due to privacy issues.
For example, after a June 1995 plane crash in New Zealand, police asked for the actual CVR tape, not the transcript, but investigators refused to hand it over. The case ended up in court.
Article 229 of the Cyprus Civil Aviation Act protects such information from disclosure except in certain rare circumstances.
At the beginning of the New Year, Cypriot police investigators are expected to travel to Greece to exchange opinions and then travel to Germany and Britain for additional testimonies from the widow of the German pilot and from the two mechanics who flew back to the UK shortly after the crash.
A seminar was held last Wednesday at Intercollege on Aviation Safety and Accident Investigation to clarify that it is not the role of aviation accident investigations to identify responsibility or assign blame for those who caused the accident but rather to root out the system failures and prevent future occurrences. It is the role of the police, not the accident investigators, to seek out and assign blame.
During the seminar, Tsolakis said that the Helios crash “so far does not seem to have one cause” but rather was caused by a “chain of events which could not be broken”.
Helios first applied for a licence to fly to and from Cyprus in December 1998, but the application was rejected because the documentation was not all in place, according to Communications Minister Haris Thrasou. Helios again applied in March 1999 with a different business plan and two months later the Communications Ministry granted the air carrier the permit.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005